These Boots are made for Hiking: Ask and You Shall Receive

I love this country. I needed to go to Baku to see the medical doctor as I got this intestinal bug in Turkey that just wouldn’t go away. I asked my friend Azad from Ag Saray to help me buy a train ticket for the overnight train. I asked him to PLEASE make sure that I had a bottom bunk bed and to be with all women or a family. He said “not a problem”. We went to buy the ticket and he knew the women they were old friends. She got me a good compartment on the train but it was the top bunk “is that okay”, alright I will make do. This was last minute so I just had to climb up and down to use the bathroom! Well, I got on the train and found my compartment and there were not one, not two, but three men!! Oh joy, top bunk and I will be sleeping with 3 men!! Fortunately, one of them spoke English and told me that he and his cousin were studying for the immigration positions opening up in Skeki but testing was in Baku. They asked to see my vista (which had expired, still waiting for my passport to get back from security) and my work card (also expired) to check data that they will be asked in their interview. They already passed their 1^stexamination and they were invited back for the interviewing processed. They were very considerate young men. So the night went very smoothly (thank God).

The next morning, I got off the trained, checked into the PC hotel, took a hot shower (yea, a shower more than 2 minutes) and changed my clothes. I headed to the PC office to see the doctor, she had asked me not to eat or drink anything as they were going to do a procedure on me. Which meant NO coffee (I was not a happy camper), so a caffeine headache was developing. When I got to the office, the doctor wanted to rule everything out, so this procedure is putting a camera down my throat (yes, swallowing a camera, NOT, I repeat NOT fun). We waited at the clinic for 3 hours and my headache started getting worst and so was the pain in my stomach besides feeling terribly nausea. So, finally it was our turn and they sprayed some horrible stuff in my mouth to numb it and it made me gag (good start Yuk). And then they decided to check my blood pressure and it was 180 (I don’t have high blood pressure so I was really surprised) but they couldn’t do it with it being so high. So it was scheduled for the next morning but in the meantime, they gave me pills to bring my blood pressure down. At this point my headache was raging and aspirin was not working, so the doctor gave me a shot plus she gave me pills for the nausea to stop. I got back to the hotel and progressively got worst. They ended up taking me to the hospital and I was given an EKG, ultra sound and an X-ray. Results were blockage in my intestine, lack of fluids and I think that bug from Turkey!! But it did not explain my high blood pressure. I did have the procedure done on Monday (NOT FUN) and an ulcer was ruled out but everything is inconclusive and my blood pressure is still high. So I got a blood pressure monitor and if it doesn’t go down I have to go back to Baku for more tests. I am not overweight, I exercise, I do not eat sweets or high fat foods as I live alone and I am very health conscious, my only vice is coffee (and according to Starbucks and myself that is NOT a vice!!). So the only red flag is stress, which we all have, but I think in my case it is an over abundance of internal stress. I really believe that older volunteers should live closer to the PC office as medical conditions do arise and it takes so long to get to the city. I love Zaqatala, it is beautiful and I would not leave it now but I think the staff should take a look at the volunteer’s age and make a note of that. I have been monitoring my blood pressure and it is going down each day. So I believe I am on the road to recovery. I am even more careful now and eating a lot of probiotics yogurt which will help my digestive system. I have to say, the doctors, hospitals and clinics I stayed and visited was wonderful but I believe in America our medical system has more high technology and I would have been already diagnose as to what I have and treatment would have been completed, instead I am on a wait and see basis with no medicine or treatment. So I am being proactive and making sure that I eat and drink healthy.

I wanted to share somemore pictures of Azerbaijan and I have fallen in love with their AWESOME trees: